While everyone up north has been dealing with unseasonably cold temperatures and tons of snow, we have been feeling the effects of the same weather systems which manifest themselves here as long stretches of strong north winds and rain as the fronts come through one after another. We are trying to move in between the fronts, when the winds are lighter and from the south. These are the 'weather windows' we are looking for right now to push our way to the Exumas.
The first leg is now behind us. Last Wednesday we decided that Thursday looked good to cross the Gulf Stream, so we did our last grocery run for fresh food, got the laundry done and at 3 p.m. we slipped off our mooring at Dinner Key and motored across the bay to Key Biscayne, where we anchored for the night to be ready to leave early the next morning. Our buddy boat Slow Waltz came with us, but sadly Leeloo stayed at Dinner Key, as they were waiting for parts.
Just after 4 a.m. Thursday we hauled up the anchor and followed Slow Waltz out the channel in the dark past Stiltsville, a bunch of houses that are built on stilts out in the bay, and I think now unoccupied. It was very dark and fairly calm until we got out to the end of the channel. As we motored into the Gulf Stream the waves got bigger and it was pretty uncomfortable. Knowing that the sun would be up soon helped a lot and as we got some light we unfurled the jib a bit to get some power and to steady us.
The wind was SE and our intended course was into the wind a bit too much to sail, so we motor sailed with the partial jib the entire way across. It was blowing 15-20 knots and we were continually taking waves over the bow so it was a wet, rough trip, but thankfully not nearly as bad as the last time we did the same crossing in 2003. It helped that it was sunny, but it was a long enough day as neither one of us wanted to spend any time below, so we snacked on granola bars and nuts and fruit. I did manage to get below and make peanut butter and jam sandwiches for lunch which was like a gourmet meal to us under those conditions. We were both glad when we got to the entrance to the Bimini Islands and got out of the waves.
We got safely tied up at Weech's marina shortly after 2 p.m., narrowly avoiding a collision with the dock at the marina next door because of very strong currents - the dinghy rubbed, but no damage to our boat or anything else, which was a relief. After clearing through customs and immigration and getting our cruising permit we went for a walk over to the beach to see the water we had just crossed from another vantage point. The water here is so clear you can see the bottom in 15 feet and there is certainly lots to see. There are tons of fish swimming around near the marinas, as well as some rays and the sharks, which come in to feed as fish is being cleaned and the discards are thrown into the water.
Our first 'excursion' here was to the BTC (Bahamas Telephone Company) office to try to figure out communications. We now have a data plan for one of the iPads and the phone and we will have to see how that works once we are away from Bimini. The marina has wifi, but it has been very spotty, and for two days we couldn't get on at all so we are trying to manage our expectations to stay connected. I am struggling with the whole thing actually. I think it was easier when we were out 11 years ago and we didn't expect to be connected all the time. Then we made a dedicated trip to connect to get email, post logs etc. and it felt okay to be out of touch for a couple of weeks. Now it seems like the internet should be readily available all the time, but we are never sure whether it will be or not, so there's always pressure to take care of things 'while we have internet'.
We've taken some walks to explore both North Bimini and South Bimini - which can be reached from North Bimini by a short water taxi ride across the channel dividing the two islands. South Bimini has a swanky marina/condo facility which is mostly deserted right now, as well as the Shark Institute, where we went for a 'tour' which involved wading out to the shark pens in knee deep water so we could see some young lemon sharks as the guide told us about sharks and the research they are doing at the institute. It was a very interesting visit, but because we had to go near low tide, which happened to be quite late in the day, the sand flies were out in full force and we got eaten alive.
Dave doesn't seem to react to the sand fly bites, but Gwen and Guillaume from Slow Waltz and I are really suffering. It's weird because it isn't too bad when you first get the bites, but then about two days later they swell up and start itching like crazy. It's been so bad that I have had to take Benadryl a couple of times to get some relief.
We have gone on a couple of trips in the dinghy with Slow Waltz, taking along our lookie bucket (a plastic bucket with a piece of clear acrylic in the bottom so that you can put it in the water and see what is below the surface clearly) to see what we can find. On the second trip we went with a couple of other boats and we all went snorkeling near the mangroves. We got to see some big starfish up close and part of the group even saw some rays. It was really nice to finally go for a swim and enjoy the water.
On Sunday a bunch of boats took off for Nassau but we decided not to go because the weather window looked tight and conditions for the first part of the trip didn't sound that good. We also didn't want to get stuck in Nassau for a week waiting for another window (nothing says that won't still happen to us). Instead we stuck around, along with Slow Waltz and two other boats, C-Spirit (a 32 foot Beneteau crewed by a delightful family Nancy and Jamie and their four daughters under 10) and Windflower (a caamaran crewed by Hyde, June and their son Joe, 15). On Monday we moved all four boats from Weech's marina to Brown's marina next door. This sounds like a simple thing, but with winds, currents and Romana not steering at all in reverse it wasn't as easy as it sounds. With a lot of help from all the crews we were able to get docked and secured ready for a heavy front coming through on Monday night.
After all that excitement we decided to walk up to the bakery to get a treat, but on the way up we got waylaid by the smell of curry coming from the hatchback of a car. It turns out that 'Sister Jan' sells lunches from the back of her car from Monday to Friday for $8 to $10. This includes your choice of main, along with rice, macaroni and cheese and colesalw. We decided on the chicken curry for our main and we split it between the two of us and it was tons of food, and delicious!
As predicted on Monday night the wind started howling and the weather has been a bit miserable ever since. Dave and I did get out for a big walk Tuesday morning in the wind before the rain started, but then we hunkered down a bit playing Euchre (which we haven't played since we high school and university) with the Slow Waltz crew, watching the entire first season of Downton Abbey (loaned from Slow Waltz) and eating lots of carbs and junk. By Wednesday afternoon we were feeling really shack whacky and the rain had turned into just a bit of a sprinkle here and there so we went for a walk - to the bakery again - where we bought cinnamon rolls and a piece of chocolate cake (more carbs!).
Right now it looks like we will be here until at least Saturday when the weather should be more favourable to head to Nassau. If we have to be 'stuck' somewhere it's nice to be with some fun people and tied up to a dock so we can come and go as we please without having to brave wind and waves in the dinghy.